Monday, April 7, 2008

Event to See: Murakami's Big-Breasted Girls, Vuitton Retail in Show:

This is an event I can't wait to see. An exhibit about boobs! Well it isn't but that was fun to say. This is reported from Linda Yablonsky on April 5 at Bloomberg -- That fiberglass bikini-clad Japanese girl jumping through a rope of milk that she's squeezing from her enormous breasts can really spark a conversation. Be prepared to discuss her and the leering caricature of acowboy standing among the 90 angry and cheerful works in``©Murakami,'' which opens today at the Brooklyn Museum in New
York. That copyright symbol in the title isn't ironic. For 46-
year-old Takashi Murakami, art is the straightest path to
commerce.
This retrospective -- full of Murakami's twisted cartoon imagery such as melting gorgons, depressed Buddhas, sex-obsessed aliens and grinning sunflowers -- is geared to kids as well as adults, judging by several instructional labels positioned low on the walls.
Children are encouraged to do things like search for the name ``DOB'' in paintings of a character who resembles Mickey Mouse but has a variety of expressions -- joyful, snarling, fearful -- that imply a conflicted inner life.
That glimmer of psychological depth will give adults something to do besides groan: There's no way to escape this eyelash-batting, dark-natured show without doing some hard thinking about art and commerce, fantasy and violence, even war
and peace.
Expect many images that are by turns irresistibly adorable and totally nasty. Think Jeff Koons's flowering ``Puppy'' crossed with Godzilla. Think Andy Warhol mixed with George Lucas.


Sounds intriguing!

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